For
anyone born before 1960, Bernard Drew’s Red
Ryder and Little Beaver: Painter Valley Troubleshooters
is a trip down memory lane. In fact, anyone interested in the
historical ‘funnies’ or comics generally will find this book
exciting. Aside from re-introducing us to cowboy hero Red Ryder and
his Indian side-kick, Little Beaver, this book is really the story
of cartoonist Fred Harman, creator of Bronc Peeler (1933-1938)
and Red Ryder, (1938-1964).

Bernard A. Drew is a
journalist , a freelance writer, and an historian who specializes in
Berkshire County, Massachusetts, history and popular literature
reference books. He previously wrote Jingle of the Silver Spurs:
The Hopalong Cassidy Radio Program 1950-52 (2005) for BearManor
Media. Other recent works include Henry Knox and the Revolutionary
War Trail in Western Massachusetts (2012) and 100 Most Popular
Contemporary Mystery Authors.

Red Ryder and Little
Beaver appeared in comic strips, comic books, prose books, and
radio and films. Fred Harman Jr, (1902-1982) worked in a studio on
his small ranch in Colorado. In his later years he turned to fine art
and co-founded the Cowboy Artists of America. He helped create the
Little Beavertown theme park near Albuquerque, New Mexico. Today his
newspaper comics are often reprinted and his oil paintings are valued
by collectors and may be seen in the Fred Harman Art Museum in Pagosa
Springs. Harman’s Red Ryder and Little Beaver are from the
same comic school as Edgar Rice Burrough’s Tarzan of the Apes,
Zane Grey’s King of the Royal Mounted and Chic Young’s,
Blondie, as well one remembers following on a daily basis the
adventures of Dick Tracy, Terry and the Pirates, and
Little Orphan Annie and many others.

Comic strip
aficionados will find this book useful for its excellent Index
and bibliography, numerous illustrations, many reproductions of comic
strips and book pages, photos, souvenir cards and comic book covers,
as well a n umber of preliminary drawings are compared to the
finished product. For the collector, comic book story lines are often
given as well as story numbers. Almost every young boy’s dream was
to own a Red Ryder BB gun. Fred Harman signed an agreement in 1938
with Daisy who started in 1940 to manufacture Daisy 111 Model 40 Red
Ryder Western Carbines who in 1946 issued the Daisy
Handbook a paperback featuring jokes, Western lore, Indian
facts and Red Ryder comic strip reprints.

Bernard Drew’s Red
Ryder and Little Beaver: Painter Valley Troubleshooters is a
worthy addition to comic book collectors’ libraries, in fact,
it will be enjoyed by all lovers of comic books no matter how young
or old they are.